Sociology Exam 2

The flashcards below were created by user
Radhika316
on FreezingBlue Flashcards.

Race

A group or population which shares a set of physical features; social scientists reject the biological notions of race, instead favoring an approach that treats race as a social construct.

Ethnic groups:

which are set off to some degree from other groups by displaying a unique set of cultural traits such as their language, religion or diet.

The Majority..

Race and Hispanic Origin; US (2008):whites are on top for now, but minorities tend to reproduce more and more interacial marriages

Immigration:

leaving one's country of origin to move to another

Labor migration:

movement from one country to another for employment; has been a part of

US history beginning with chinese male railroad workers in the 1800s

Refugees:

aliens outside the US who are unable or unwilling to return to his/her country of origin for persecution or fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion

US Foreign born by World Region of Birth (2008):

Latin america is 53%

Ethnocentricism:

judging the values and behaviors of other groups to be inferior to your own

Racism vs. Prejudice.

the belief that certain racial or ethnic groups are inferior and discriminatory practices against them are justified

Prejudice: an attitude vs Racism: an act or behavior; racist practice-a type of

prejudice

Individual discrimination:

actions against minority group members by individuals

Institutional discrimination:

discriminatory practices by the govt, social institutions and organizations.

May include segregation, exclusion or expulsion

Segregation:

the physical and social separation of ethnic or racial groups

Exclusion:

the practice of prohibiting the entry or participation of groups in society

Expulsion:

the removal of a group due to a direct force or intimidation.

Inequalities Based on Race and Ethnicity: Functionalist Perspective
-goal/solution?

-Says the differences between racial and ethnic groups are largely cultural.

-Solution: assimilation (Milton Gordon): a process where minority group members become part of the dominant group, losing their original group identity; assimilation is said to allow a society maintain its equilibrium (functionalist goal) if all cultures and races adopt one dominant culture.

-Other countries maintain pluralism: Each ethnic or racial group maintains its own culture(cultural pluralism) or a separate set of social structures and institutions (structural pluralism)

Milton Gordon’s seven-stage assimilation model

-Functionalist perspective

1. cultural assimilation

2. structural assimilation: interaction w/ members of the dominant group

3. Marital assimilation: intermarriage

4. Identification assimilation: developing a sense of national identity

5. Attitude receptional assimilation: absence of prejudiced thoughts among dominant and minority group members

-focuses on how the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations divide groups while maintain a dominant group (either a social class or racial/ethnic categories); relationships are based on power, force and coercion, rather than consensus= assimilation

-ethnocentriism and racism maintain the status quo by dividing indivduals along racial and ethnic lines.

-Under these conditions, laborers remain in conflict with each other, and the interests of capitalist business owners are maintained.

Inequalities Based on Race and Ethnicity: Feminist perspective:

-Feminist theory intersects with multiculturalism through the analysis of multiple systems of oppression including categories of race, class, sexual oreintatiion, nation of origin, language, culture and ethnicity.

-Black feminist scholars note the misguided application of traditional feminist perspectives of the family, matriarcy, and reproduction to understand the experience of black women's live.

-Black women do not lead parallel lives, but rather diffferent lives.

Inequalities Based on Race and Ethnicity: Interactionist perspective:

-Race is a social construct, a human invention

-we learn about racial and ethnic categories through our social interaction

-Racial categories and identities serve as intersections of social beliefs, perceptions, and activities that are reinforced by enduring systems of rewards and penalties.

The consequences of Racial and Ethnic Inequalities: Income and Wealth

-Dalton Conely: "Race is so associated w/ class in the US that it might not be direct discrimination, but it still matters indirectly"

-attainment, high unemployment, or under employment African Americans have not been able to achieve the same earnings or level of wealth as Whites.

-"Home ownership": GI Bill allows people to go back to school; home ownership grew among white middle class families after WW2 when veterans had access to govt and credit programs making home ownership more affordable. Blacks were denied access b/c of structural barriers such as discrimination, low income and lack of credit access

Brown vs. Board of Education:

rules that racial segregation in public schools was illegal.

De Facto Segregatiion:

a subtler process of segregation that is the result of other processes, such as housing segregation, rather than because of an official policy.

Education:(Race and Ethnicity)
-which group has the lowest education rates?

-Schools have become economically segregated with children of middle or upper class families attending predom. white suburban schools and the children of poorer parents attending racially mixed urban schools.

-Along all US ethnic minority groups, Latinos have the lowest education achievement rates: more likely to attend the largest public HS (which is associated w/ lower student achievement and higher drop out rates); Hispanics are more likely to be in HS with lower instructional resources.

-"meritocracy"

Health (Race and Ethnicity)
-Sara Rosenbaum and Joel Teitelbaum:

-W Michael Byrl & Linda Clayton:

-Sara Rosenbaum and Joel Teitelbaum: racial disparities in access to health care and outcomes are pervasive: in a volunatary, employment-based health care system, racial and ethnic minority group members are more likely to be uninsured or publicly insures. Minority patients are less likely to reive the level of care provided to nonminority patients for the same condition regardless of their insurance status.

-W Michael Byrl & Linda Clayton: The health crisis among blacks and poor pops is fueld by a medical-social culture ladent with ideological, intellectual and scientific, and discriminatory race and class problems; health system is predicated on the belief that the poor and "unworthy" of our society do not deserve decent health.

U.S Immigration:
-Foreign born individuals in the US composing of
-states that account for highest immigration population?

-Largest group of immigrants in the US?

-Foreign born individuals in the US composing of 12.1 percent of the total population; highest number of foreign born ever recorded in the US History

-cali, NY, Tx, FL and NJ account for 63% of the immigrant population and only 35% of the native born population

-Mexico account for the majority of immigrants, almost six times the combined total of immigrants from china, hong kong and taiwan.

-2006, Bush proposed immigration reforms including strengthening border security w/ mexico and establishing a temporary worker program without the benefit of amnesty. Plan was criticized for creating a class of workers who would never become fully integrated in US society, and for focusing specifically on Mexican workers while ignoring all other immigrant groups.

-"Transitional motherhood"

Global Immigration as a Social Problem

-Migration has been elevated to a top international policy concern largely b/c of the threat of terrorism and the challenge of global politics.

-Great Britian, France, Germany, Australia and other countries have seen an increase in pro- and anti-immigration protest, and increased hate crimes against immigrants in recent years.

-Though globalization has created wealth, lifting many out of poverty, the gap b/w the rice and poor remains.

Affirmative Action in Employment:
-1965?
-when did he amend for gender?
-opponents of affirmative action believe that
-Proponents argue that

-In 1965; Johnson required govt contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment; Required contractors to take proactive measures to ensure equality in hiring without regard to race, religion, and national origin.

-Also established the equal employment opportunities commission; charged with enforcing and monitoring compliance among federal contractors

-in 1967; Johnson amended the order to include discrimination based on gender.

-state and local govts followed the lead of Fed govt and took formal steps to encourage employers to diversify their workforces.

-opponents of affirmative action believe that it encourages preferential entrapment for minorities

- Proponents argue that only through affirmative action policies can we address the historical societal discrimination that minorities experienced in the past.

-Omi and winant (1994) Racism is a concept; race is subjective, an illusion but still powerful and seems to be a permanent feature of US culture

-Redfield (1958): "Race is a human invention"

-The Federal definition of ethnicity is based on the "office of Management and Budet's 1977 guideline" which defines ethnicity in terms of hispanic/non-hispanic status; so that in 2002, Hispanics were the nation's largest ethnic group

-W.E.B Du BOis (1996): "to speak of race at all as a concept, rather than a as a group of contradictory forces, facts and tendencies", the problem with this century is "the color line"

-Myers:Ethnocentrism and racism maintan the status quo by dividing individuals along racial and ethnic lines

-Michael Samerssuggests that immigrants are a "quantitatively and qualitatively flexible labour fource for the capitalists which divides & weakens working class organization and drives down the value of labour power; capitalist businesses profit from migrant workers because they are cheap and flexible--easily hired during times of economic growth and easily fired during economic recessions.

-Hazel Carby: argues that because black women are subject to simultaneous oppression based on class, race, and patriarchy, the application of traditional (white) feminist perspectives is not appropriate and is actually misleading in attempts to comprehend the true experience of a black woman"

-"Third world women" (Carby) Anonymity and oppression of a nameless black females

-Howard McGary: defines the practices as a commonly accepted course of action that may be over time habitual in nature, a course of action that specifies certain forms of behavior as permissible and other impermissible with rewards and penalities assigned accordingly; so that racial categories serve as intersecton of social believes, persceptions and activities reinformced by this system

-"Multiracial"acknowlegement of a new racial category

-"ethnic attrition":individuals choose not to self-identify as a member of a particular ethnic group (30 % of Mexican youth; "paterns of intergenerational whitening" in latin america where highly educated non-white brazilians were found to be more likely to label their children as white rather than less-educated non-white brazillians (swartzman)

Income and Wealth (Ethnicity/Racism)
-stats.

-Dalton Conley: "racism is so associated w/ class in the US that it might not be direct discrimination, but it still matters indirectly"

- Us Census:Black households had the lowest median income in 2011 ($32,229), 58% of the median income for non-hispanic white households was $55,412) THe median income for hispanics: $38,624.Asian households had the highest median income: $65,129 o:

-Home ownership is one of the primary means to accumulate wealth, it enables families to finance college and invest in their future.

-Feagin(1999): identifies how inequality in home ownership has contributed to inequality in other aspects of American life, Specifically blacks have been disadvantaged because of their lack of home ownership, particulary in their inability to provide their children with "the kind of education" needed to compete equally or fairly with whites.

-2004: US home ownership reached a record high of %69.2 with 73.4 billion

Health (racism/ethnicity-reading)

-Sara Rosenbaum and Joel Teitelbaum:The issues is twofold--access to health care and the quality of care received once in the system,

First:Health insurance which significanlly discrimnates against a racial and ethnic minority (Whites: lowest uninsured rate of 11.1%, Blacks (19.5 %), Asians (16.8% and then hispanics (30.1%) and most likely to have Medicaid.

Second:They are less likely to receive the level of care provided to whites for the same condition regarless of their insurance status.

-W. Michael Byrd and Linda Clayton(2002)assert that the health crisis among african americans and poor populations is fueled by a medical

-Gordon Allport (1954) argues that inergroup contact can have a positive effect in reducing inrerracial prjudice and increasing tolerance if four conditions are men:1. There is cooperative interdependence among the groups. 2. THe groups share a common goal. 3. The groups are of equal status during contact. 4. The groups have the suppport of authority figures.

-affirmative action: a policy that attempted to improve minority accet to occupational and educational oppurtunities.

-"Philadelphia plan" BY Nixon (1969)-The first order that endorsed the use of specific goals for desegregating the workplace, but it didn't include fixed quotas. -Education: Title VI

Sex, Gender, Sexism

Sex: physiological differences b/w males and females.

Gender: Differences determined by our society and our culture; social scientists believe that gender differences are a product of socialization, prejudice, discrimination and other forms of social contrrol; Traditional gender role stereotypes are reinforced through family, school, peers, and the media on what is appropriate behavior for girls and boys.

Sexism:Prejudice or discrimination based on someone's sex or gender.

Top Top Ten Countries With the Highest Percentage of Seats in Natonal Parliaments Held by Women (2009):

-Argues that gender inequality is inevitable b/c of the biological division of labor in the household.

"Gendered division of labor" makes gender inequality inevitable; "gender inequality is defined not as a product of differential power but rather as a functional necessity; women who assert their rights for social and economic equality are seen as attacking the structure of society

-Durkheim:social evolution led to the exaggeration of sex differences in personalities and abilities.

- Gender inequality is not defined as a product of differential power, but rahter as a functional necessity.

-Gender inequality exists because it benefits a group in power and with power to shape society--men.

-patriarchy: a system where men are dominant over women.

-In our capitalist economy, men are rewarded w/ higher wages, more prestige, and greater authority in the workplace; at home, men are treated with deference by their wives and children

-Sexism may be an individual act, but it can also become institutionalized in our organizations or through laws and common practices.

-Both perspectives argue that women will remain in their subordinate position as long as men maintain their social,economic, and cultural advantage in society.

-women's subordinate position in society is linked to their relationship to the means of productions, a fundamental concept of Marx.

-Structural inequalities b/w men and women don't just discriminate against women, from this perspective tackling gender inequality means to question gendered structures at various levels (labor, child care, socialization, family) and to address the experience of men and women equally.

-Early feminist scholars treated gender as an indivdiaul attrribute, as a propery of individuals or as a par of the role that was sacquired through socialization BUT CONTEMPORARY Feminists refer to gender as a process, a system of social practices that creates and maintains gender distinctions and inqualities.

-Conflicts: identify how women's suborodinate positon is linked to their relationship to the means of production.

Hegemonic masculinity:

the gender practice that guarantees the dominant social position of men and the subordinate social postion of women.

Interactionist Perspective on Gender Inequality:

-argues that we sort individuals into categories such as race and gender; social categorization is important because it sets into motion the production of gender difference and inequality

-norms, values, and beliefs about the differences b/w boys and girls and men and women are reinforced thru the gender socialization process.

-Characteristics of those who are privileged become social norms. In terms of gender, men are privileged and serve as the standard.

-social values and meanings are expressed in our langauge, our language reflects the privileged position granted to men. ("male priviledge)

the separation of women and men into nomanual and manual labor sectors-employer and insitutional discrimination help maintain the separation of women and men in the workplaces

-socialization encourages children to internailize sex types expectations of others, which shapes their occupational aspirations and preferences.

-Traditional gender role stereotypes are reinforced through the family, school, peers, and media of what is appropriate behavior for girls and boys. This includes defining appropriate occupations for women vs. men.

- Highest level of horizontal segregation: Sweden and France; US: women are 14x more likely to work in white collar sectors and highest level of vertical segreagation was found in France and UK; in US Vert seg was third lowest among 10 countries.

Vertical Segregation:

The elevation of men into the best-paid and most desirable occupations, whereas women remain in lower paid positions with no job mobility.

-based on deeply roooted and widely shared cult beliefs that men are more competent than women and are better suited than women for positions of power.

-"male primacy": women were penalized in Wall street for having children

-vertical segreation is reproduced b/c it is consistens with the values of "male primacy"

-glass ceiling mechanisms

-stained glassceiling

Income inequality: men vs women

-Human capital:

-2005: women made 77 cents for ever dollar earned by a man.

-Human capital: the skills workers acquire though education and work experience. Theory: women earn less b/c of differences in the kind and amount of human capital they acquire.

-Devaluation of women's work: higher societal value is placed on men than on women, and this is reproduced within the work place.

Educational Attainment: women vs men

women rank higher than men in the percentage of HS graduates completing college prep and total higher education enrollment.

-The share of conferred degrees has increased for minority women ad men; the number of white men earning bacherlor's haas essentially remained the same, while the number of white women, and men and women of color earning bachelor's have grown.

-American Council of Education: women now represent a 57% majority in higher education; woman rand higher in men, and share of conferred degrees has also increased for minority women and men

-Historians mark the first wave feminist movement in US throught the world in the 19th century.

-The US feminist movement began in 1848 w/ the first women's rights convention lead by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott: adopted a declaration of sentiments demanding, among other things, women's right to vote.

-SIimiliar movement also began in Great Britain at same time, with increasing demands for women's political and economic equality.

-The nineteeth amendment in 1920 affirmed US women the right to vote, in great Britain, women were given the right to vote in 1918.

=> Second wavefocused on expanding legal rights for women

-1964 Title VII of the civil rights act was passed prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace and providing equal workplace opportunities for women and minorities. -1972: Title IX of the educational Amendments was passed.

=> The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA): the 27th amendment did not passes; which proposed "equality of rights under law shall not be denied or abridge by the US or by any state on account of "sex".

=> Third wave of feminism in the 90's:acknowledges oppression based on race and ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation in addition to sex.

4th described as a movement withoutone cohesive cause, leader or platform;"gender mainstreaming"the integraton of the gender perspective into every stage of the policy process" along the European union; sweden is the pioneer in developing policies for men's involvement in child care.

Title IX
-Three methods of compliance with Title IX:

-Prohibits the exclusion of any person from participation in an educational program or the denial of benefits based on one's sex.

-Three methods of compliance with Title IX:

1. The percentage of male and famale athletes is about the same as the percent of students enrolled.

2. School has a history and a continuing practice of expanding oppurtunities for female students.

3. School is fully and effectively meeting its female student's interests and abilitities to participate in sports.

-Schools must also equitably allocate scholarships, treat men and women equally in all aspects of sports programming (equipment, scheduling, financial support, etc)

Social Scientists beliefs in Gender.

Social scientists believe that gender differences are not caused by biological differences, rather, they are a product of socialization, prejudice, discrimination, and other forms of social control

-institutionallized heterosexuality: the set of ideas, institutions, and relationships that define the heterosexual family as the societal norm.

-1996 Defense of Marriage act (DOMA) denies federal recognition of same-sex unions, defining marriage as a legal union only b/w a man and a woman: This legislation serves as a declaration about how the heterosexual family is valued and how all other family fors are not; other forms of sexuality are considered deviant or unnatural because they do not fit society's ideal.

-interactionists examine how sexual orientation is constructed within a social context

-The term "heterosexuality" is a social inventtion that designates a concept particular to the late 19th and 20th centuries; though heterosexuality existed before, it played an important role in consolidating the construction of the heterosexual's social existence.

-Internationists also examine the proceess of how individuals identify themselves as homosexual or the development of a gay identity.

-Coming out has come to symbolize the pursuit of individual rights and self identification; implies not just the disclosure of a gay identity, but also the individual's positive attitude toward and commitment to that identity.

US Legislation on Homosexuality:
-sodomy states

-Bisexual or homosexual men, women, and their families are subject to social inequalities through practices of discrimination and prejudice, many institutionalized in formal law.

-Although sodomy laws may apply to homosexuals and heterosexuals, sodomy lawas are more vigorously applied against same-sex partners; 13 US states still had state sodomy laws in 2003.

-In 2000: the US congresss passed legislation to grant gay individuals protections under hate-crime laws: the legistlation increases penalities against attackers, some conservative and religous groups opposed the legislation saying that the bill would create special classes of federally protected crime victims and would endanger first amendment rights. Signing bill, Obama promised that people would be protected from violence based on "what they look like, who they love, how they prey or why they are"

The Rights of recognition of Same sex couples: Doma

-Doma: Permits states to ban all recognition of same sex marriages, more than 41 states have such bans in place

-The federal govt will not accept marriages licenses granted to same sex couples, even if a state provides equal privileges to all types of partnerships

-Doma denies federal benefits available to or required from married opposite sex couples. -Gay and lesbian families are denied common legal protections such as adoption, custody, guardianship, social security and inheritance.

-> 2010: Obama instructed the secretary of the dept of health and human services to draft rules requiring hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments (which includes most of the nation's medical facilities) to grant all patients the right to say who has visitation rights and who can make medical decisions.

-> 2004: San Franciso mayor Gavin Newsom secretly began planning to marry gay and lesbian couples. In August, CA supreme court ruled that Mayor Newsom did not have the sauthority to issue marriage licenses and declared the licenses invalid.

-> In response to the same sex marriages in CA, Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment that would restrict marriage to two people of oppostie sexes but possibility that states could allow civil unions in same sex relationships; in july 2004, the US senate failed to pass a constutional amendment tat would have declared marriage as a union only b/w a man and a woman.

-> A public opinion survey in 2007 relvelaed the hightest level of support for gay rights during the past three weeks-however opposition regarding homosexual marriage remains hight according to the data.

-b/w 16-46% of gays, lesbians, or bisexuals have experienced discrimination based on sex orientation

-Title VII of the civil rights act prohibits discrimination b/c of sex ( such as skin color gender), which means that protection fro homosexuals based on sexual orientation is not covered.

-Unlike discrimination based on characteristics such as skin color or gender discrimination, jobs or missing promotion against gays and lesbians must be based on knowledge or suspicion of someone's sexual orientation

-b/w 1/4th and 2/3rds of LGBT people report losing their jobs or missing promotions b/c of their sexual orientations

-Gay workers earn less than heterosexual workers

-Currently there is no federal law that protects LGBT individuals from employment discrimination

-2009, the employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) was introduced in the US against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; 21 states and hundred US cities and countries, and more than 80% of all Fortune 500 companies have similiar protections

Responding to Sexual Orientation Inequalities
-first state to legalize same sex couples
-first European country to recognize same sex unions?
-status of legal same sex unions in how many states in 2010?
-Prop 8?
-what country passed an act that was the first in the world to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation?

In 2003; the Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that same-sex and opposite-sex couples must be given equal civil rights under the state's constitution; allowed same sex couples to obtain a civil marriage license, make health and financial decisions for each other, file joint state tax returns, and receive other protections under state law.

-In May 2004: Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to let same sex couples marry

-As of 2010, five us states and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage while other states offer limited form of domestic partnership to same sex couples.

-Though gay marriage was legal for a short time, on Nov 4, 2008, 52% of cali voters approved prop 8: a measure that restricted the definition of marriage to opposite sex couples.

--> Denmark was the first European country to recognize same sex unions in 1989

-During his first presidential campaign, Clinton promised to extend full civil rights to gay and lesbians, including military service; military policy and that time banned gay and lesbian individuals from military service.

- 1993: Suspended the policy and the national Defense Authorization Act became law, included the "don't ask, don't tell" policy

-2007: the Pentagon revealed that 58 Arabic langauge experts were discharged from military service since the inception of the policy b/c they were gay.

-U.S House Reps were critical of the Pentagon, believe that the policy and its actions were homophobic rather than focusing on the country's national security needs

-2010: testimony before a Senate panel, Defense secretary Robert Gate and Adm. Mike Mullen chairman of the join Chiefs of Staff supported the repeal of the law.